Word for the Wise

May 08, 2007 Broadcast

Topic: Antoine Laurent Lavoisier & National Teacher Day

Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, the fellow who gave oxygen its name, was executed in Revolutionary France on this date in 1794. Supposedly, a plea to grant mercy to the man who would be remembered as the father of chemistry was dismissed with this: "We need no more scientists in France," while mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange mourned his friend with these words: "it took them only an instant to cut off that head, and a hundred years may not produce another like it."

By pure coincidence, today is also National Teacher Day. We're combining the anniversaries by weighing in on teaching, learning, and docility.

The Latin docere—meaning "to teach"—gave us the English docile, which originally meant "teachable" and only later came to mean "obedient; tractable." Does this mean students should endeavor to be receptacles of teachers' learning? Not according to 20th century philosopher Bertrand Russell, who wrote, "Passive acceptance of the teacher's wisdom is easy to most boys and girls. It involves no effort of independent thought, and seems rational because the teacher knows more . . . Yet the habit of passive acceptance is . . disastrous . . . in later life. It causes man to seek and to accept a leader and to accept as a leader whoever is established in that position."

Questions or comments? Write us at wftw@aol.com Production and research support for Word for the Wise comes from Merriam-Webster, publisher of language reference books and Web sites including Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition.